Sound-record and means and method for producing the same.



APPLiCAT N fiLED {)PR. i"), 1913.

v ate med mawm NOV.

JAMES KENT :anYnAun, or new YORK. n. ASSIGNOB TO HIMSELF, as funera s.

sounn-nnoonnann MEANS AND Mnrnon roe rnonuor diriin sans; f

igasanos.

To uZl ar/wm zr'may concern Be it known that I, Janna lisx'r REYNARD, acitizen of the United States of lumeri'ca, residing at New York, N. Y.,have invented new and useful Sound-Records and Means and Methods forProducing the Same, of

essential that the diaphragm of the reprowhich the following is aspecification.

dale type; another as the zig-zag type; {and a third is referred to asthe oblique cut or Emerson? type.

In order to use records having the hill and, dale. cut to.thehestadvantage, it is dupinginstrument should he placed in a 'pliuieinclined obliquely to the surface of the record and extendingtransversely of the line or direction of the groove so that the point ofthe needle or stylus may freely and accurately trail over theundulations of the bottqni ot' the groove, whereby it will impartcorrespending vibrations to the diaphragm. I. W In order to use a grooveof the "zig-zag" type tip the greatestadvantage it is essen- .tial thatthe reproducing diaphragm shall be placed in a plane substantiallyvertical to the plane of the record and as closely as possible in, orparallel to, the line of travel of the record groove under the stylus,

whereby the opposite side walls of said groove will uniformly engage thesides of the stylus near the point to impart the proper vibrations tosaid diaphragm. While it is'possible in some instances to place the*diaphragm in a difi'erent position, in connection with its use with agroove of the zigzag type, and to thereby secure sound reproduction,such reproduction is very subdued in volumeand is inferior and Whollyunsatisfactory from the standpoint of artistic merit. r 7

The aforesaid oblique cut, or Emersonl type of groove. inav be said tobe a compro mise between the mg-zagll-andthe hill and dale t vpes'or"grooves which :makes it possible to use a diaphragm'placed in either ofthe aforesaid positions and'to get approxi- Specification of LettersPatent. I

Patente d1 Applicationfiledepril19,1918. Serie1No.229,63-O. v

matelythe same resultsini eitlierpop so far as sound reproducton is;concerned t and detail as s attained. by the but at a sacrifice of ofcompared with the r use of either one of the firstinentionediypes ofgrooves. t is neither dale nor a full lateral cut. c It is my purpose toconstructa cutvwliich, instead of being a compromise bet-ween the twofirstinentioned types of grooves ratthe sacrifice of quality ordetailgniight he referred to as a coirnositeoii both the hill ull lhi lland and dale'and the ai g-Zaggroovesso that a reproducingdiaphragmniaybe used there with in either of the at'oresaid positions orin any intermediate position, with substantially equally good resultsand substantially as good results as are .obtainedhy theu-se of astrictly hill and dale groove or a lateral groove andwithout-sacrificeto quality or detail in soundr roductionJ As a result of my improvementmay produce a disl: record which may used to t-he utmost satisfactionwith a phonograph equipped with a sound box especially designed andpositioned for use for a record having a hill and dale groove,,or withanother phonograph equipped witlra sound box especially designed andpositioned for a record having a zig-Zag groove.

In the accompanying drawing: Figure 1 is a plan view of a;.recordi.o1":the disk type, the same being conventionally shown. e. I

Fig. 2 is a view of the-- essentia'lparts of the music recordingor'groove cutting ineans, these parts likewise being I conventionallyshown and diagrammatic incharacter.

Fig. 3 is a plan view'of ashortlength of the record grooveconventionally shown; and

greatly enlarged. v Fig. -l is a longitudinal sectionthrough said grooveon the dotted line of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is across section of the groove onthe line 55 of Fig.3.

Rig. 6 is a cross. section or" the groove on the line 66 of Fig.

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view part of a diaphragm and platen latterpartof the record groove having been engraved.

Referring to Figs and; '7. '1 represents the diaphragm designedtoreceivethesound waves which are utilized 'for niakin'g the recordgroove. 2 conventionally represents including in which shown as shown,this as a needle. ed on a carrler 3 which'is hinged at 4 at one 1 by thesound recognition. I

derstood that the several illustrat ons of the roove found in theaccompanying draw-- the cutter of the instrument by which the groove isformed. In the particular form cutter is conventionally shown This.cutter 2 is rigidly'mountside of the cutter point relatively to thedirection of'the groove to be formed. 5 represents a connection betweenthe diaphragm 1 and the carrier 3. The cutter 2 is mounted on thecarrier, at a point away from the hinged point 4 and preferablybetweenthe connection 5 and the pivot 4 as shown in Fig. 2. It follows thatwhen the diaphragm 1 vibrates to and fro' it will impart a positive toand fro endwise'movement to. the

cutter, and it also follows that while the cutter is vibrating to andfro the point thereof will likewise be caused to positively vibratelaterally; hence, if the cutting point of the cutter2 is in engagementw1th the material in which the groove is to be out, it will obviouslyform therein an undulation'groove of uneven depth like the so; calledhill and dale type of cut as well as a laterally undulating calledzig-zag type of; cut. Of course, if the cutter is forced deeply into thematerial of the platen in which the groove is being formed, the width ofthe groove at the surface of the-platen will'be slightly greater than inthe case of a shallow cut, this being due to the tapering sides of thecutter, and to this extent the outline of the groove (at the surface)will vary'somewhat from the outline of the true zig-zag. groove (at thealways of the same width since it is always of uniform or constantsurface) which is depth, but this is of no material consequence becausethe effective part of the groove, when it is being used with areproducing needle 1s close to the bottom and narrow (whether that partof the groove is shallow or deep), and this part of the sides of my newgroove where the needle engages always very closely conforms to thetrueizig-zag out. That cutter such as this. must be the case with aillustrated in Fig.2 is obvious. The parallel dotted lines in Fig.31illustrate the ef't'eotive sides ofthe groove for sound reproducingpurposes, waves occur on the bottom and on the opposite sides of theeffective part of said groove simultaneously and correspondinly. a.

TZecauSe the particular shape of any sound producing groove isv evervarying, it is prac I illustrate the ink drawing,.

tically impossible to accurately same by means of a [pen and.particularly because" many of the sound waves orvibrations are somicroscopic as to be'almost beyond the possibility.of h'umanAccordingly, it should be un-.

mgs are merely graphic to illustrate the gen- .between the lines 55 and66 of and it will be observed that at the line 5-5 producing stylus,

groove like the sosuccessfully and the undulations produced groove sincethe sound waves eral principle and must not be regarded as matelyillustrated by that part of the 1groove the groove 'is' deeper than atthe line 66, that is because the point of the recording cutter 2 as itisforced forward and laterally by the diaphragm makes a deeper and awider gouge in the material than when the diaphragm reacts and retractsthe point of.

the cutter for forming that art of the groove at the line 66. ince .teeffective part of the groove for side engagement of a recated at 6 inFigs. 5 and 6, is always close to the bottom, it follows that thelateral.

groove, by which I mean the effective part thereof, is and thereforepossesses that characteristic of the strictly lateral 'or zig-zag typeof groove. These lateral undulations-also are reproduced in the bottomof the groove and.

hence the bottom of the groove is ever varymg or non-uniform in depth,thus corresponding to the strictly hill and daletype of groove fromwhich it follows that my new. and composite (rather than a compromise)of bothof the v d satisfactorily operate with either of the aforesaidtypes of phonographs without sacrifice to either. detail or quality,provided of course the record iswell made.

Since the complementary undulations in both serles occurfinsubstantially the same transverse position in the groove, it is apparentthat when a reproducing needle is being actuated by one series say thehill-and-dale-series, there will be no interference occasioned by theother series and vice versa. f-

Inoperation: It is obvious that: if the stylus of a reproducinginstrument is positioned exactly in} a vertical plane extendinglongitudinally of the groove, it will trail along the undulations inthebottom of the groove, -and will simultaheusly be, vibrated laterallyto the same extent. Thus, it .matters not whether the sound reproducingdia phragm is arranged in a. plane transverse to the groove or in line,or parallehgwith the by" the varying undulations will e transmittedthereto for sound reproduction in accordancewith said vibrations. It isa well such for example as ind1-.

of substantially uniform width agresaid types of cutsand will ofundulations,

re resented improved groove is in reality. a

. there will lessees known fact that with even a hill and dale record it15 possible to secure some degree of sound uith the diaphragm positionedas for a lateral or zig-zag cut or vice versa, but of course in such acase the volume is reduced and much of the detail isinissing.Xevertheless, the very fact that some degree of sound produced undersuch conditions is useful in reproducing sound by means of my improvedgroove because, irrespe .tiv the positioning of the diaphragm relatf'eljto the groove, both sets of undulationsfiha' to say, the hill and daleset andthe latera set. simultaneously contribute to the production ofsound' should be placed obliquely instead of either transverse to. orparallel vvith. the groove, the sound will be reproduced in accordancewith both sets of vibrations, each set contributing its share to saidreproduction depending upon the particular angle or pitch of saiddiaphragm. hen the angle of the diaphragm is oblique, as I have just mentioned, the angle of the reproducing stylus is also'pitched out of avertical plane so that it-in turn stands obliquely to the groove, theupper part of the groove atlording sutlicientclearance therefor so thatthe said stylus may Work properly. Where the angle of the stylus ispitched. obliquely as last mentioned be more side engagement on one sideof the groove than on the other, but 1 have found that this vvill notiiaterially interfere with the proper functioning of the stvlus if therecord is Well made and cleanly cut so that it Will have smooth and Welldefined surfaces. Whileit is more difficult to produce a groove of thehill and dale or varying depth typeso that it Wlll possess smooth andwell defined SllTfQCGS nevertheless, by the exercise of proper care andthe selection of an appropriate cutting tool, I have been able toproduce this type of groove so that it will reproduce sound with entiresatisfaction and Without sacrifice of quality or detail.

In Fig. '7 l have diagrammatically shown how the needle or recordingstylus vvill operateto produce two independent substantiallycorresponding series of undulat ons in the bottom and in the oppositeside Walls otthe fl'roove being formed in the platen l? and in ivhicligroove the complementary undulations in both series are bound to occurin the same location transversely of the groove. so that the undulationsof one series will not interfere with the operation of a reproducingneedle when l'ieing influenced by the undulationsot the other series. Itwill be noted that the point of the needle moves on the are f/f/ as thediaphragm l is flexed. hence. the point of the needle has a positivelateral movement (relatively to the direction of Lhe groove beingformedl etween the lines cc and f 7' and a corresponding positive Soalso. if the diaphragm.

endu'ise movement between the lines aand b72 thereby at once proccacmgtwoin dependent and. substantially rorresp'ondingused to reproducesound waves Without interference by the other series.

9.. Means for forming a record groove in a surface of '23: or othersuitable material; comprising a pointed cutter, means for mounting saidcutter whereby the same may be caused to move endvvise into said maivaxor other terial and whereby the point may be caused to simultaneouslymove laterally relatively to the direction of the groove being formed toproduce two independent substantially corresponding series ofsynchronized undulations in the bottom and side walls thereoi, and asingle sound responsive means for imparting both movements to suchcutter si-- nutltaneously.

Means for forming record groovesin the surface of was: or other suitablematerial comprising a cutter, a sound responsive diaphragm. a carrierfor the cutterg said carrier being mounted at one side of the groove tobe formed to have an oscillating movement, said cutter being connectedto said carrier at a pointre-mote fromthe axis of oscillation, and aconnection between said carrier and said diaphragm whereby thevibrations of the diaphragm will be trans mitted to the point of thecutter through the mediuii of said carrier and WlIQI'EbYHCOHlbinedlateral and endwise movementwill be imparted to the end of said cutter.

Means ior forming a record groove in the surface of was: or othersuitable niaterial comprising, cutter means for mounting said cuttercomprising a carrier hinged at o .e side of the cutter point relativelyto the direction or" the groove, to be formed, with means for impartingmovement to the carrier to cause the cutting point thereof to movedepthivise into the material in which the groove is being formed to avarying degree and to simultaneously move laterally relati ely to thegeneral direction of the groove being formed to produce both ver' ticaland lateral undulations.

Means for forming a record groove in the surface of wax or othersuitable material comprising, a cutter, means for mounting direction ofthe groove to be formed, with a single means for imparting movement tothe carrier to cause the cutting point thereof to move depthwise in thematerial in which the groove .is being formed to a varying-degree and tosimultaneously move 'laterallyrelatively to the generaldirection of thegroove being formed to produce both vertical and lateral undulations,said undulations being deeper and Wider on the side nearest the axis ofthe cutter and shallower and narv rower on the remote side.

' ,6. The method offorming'a record groove in wax or other suitablematerial, comprisi'ng forcing a suitable cutting medium by endwise andlateral movement relatively to the direction of the groove being formedmeans of a single sound-responsive device into the surface of a movingbody of wax taneous and substantially corresponding to produce twoindependent series of substantially correspondlng vertical and lateralor the like, and imparting thereto a simulundulations in the bottom andsides of said JAMES KENT REYNARD.

